Global Voices » Azerbaijan

Nagorno Karabakh: Cultural Destruction and Preservation in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:40:51 +0000

During the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris and Armenians were displaced. With hundreds of settlements also razed, and thousands of monuments destroyed, Conflict Voices looks at the issue of cemeteries, some of which were destroyed, but also preserved during the war as well as in the 18 years since the 1994 ceasefire.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Attitudes to Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution

Onnik Krikorian — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:43:21 +0000

Caucasus Conflict Voices posts early data from a 2011 household survey by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers revealing attitudes to the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenia: Human Rights Organizations Concerned by Film Festival Obstruction

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:28:08 +0000

After threats, intimidation and incitement to violence led to the cancellation of a film festival to be held in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri, nationalists, with the indirect support of the country's main political parties and some NGOs, have attacked a human rights organization for the same reason.

Police stood by as some in a crowd of around 200 people threw eggs and stones at the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly office in Vanadzor. International human rights organizations have decried the latest manifestation of intolerance and lack of freedom of expression in the former Soviet republic.

Although the demonstrations against the screening of Azerbaijani films in Armenia were not well attended, mobilization was coordinated through the mass media and on Facebook. The organizers also allege that local authorities canceled classes for students so they could attend. Video shows young people, unable to remember the time when Armenians and Azeris did live together in peace, forming the majority.

Whatever the size and attendance, the action succeeded as Tamada Tales explains.

Its films did not feature the graphic violence of Pazolini’s “Salo” or the merciless satire of Sasha Baron Cohen’s “Borat.” The single criticism of Armenia's “Stop” film festival was that its films were made in the enemy state, Azerbaijan. And, now, faced with a campaign of threats and abuse, the organizers have called the festival off.

[…]

A previous attempt to screen Azerbaijani films in Armenia also fell through in 2010. The organizers said they will keep trying to promote free thinking and help audiences on both sides of the 24-year-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan see through the veil of propaganda.

Ironically, those opposed to the festival justified their position by alleging there were no similarly moderate voices in Azerbaijan, Armenia's foe to the East. However, response to the attacks and threats targeting festival organizer Georgi Vanyan in particular have since shown that not to be the case.

Indeed, with nationalists as well as the government in Azerbaijan also against the festival, one Azeri youth activist was among those noting how many will do anything to prevent talk of peace and reconciliation.

@RuslanAZad: Neither both political elites & nor #Russia are interested in sincere movement for peace.Thus Vanyan had to be stopped #Armenia #azerbaijan

@RuslanAZad: I believe campaign against Vanyan was to greater extend political provocation than people's true desire. #Armenia #azerbaijan #caucasus

An anti-festival Facebook page included incitement to violence as well as threats against Vanyan and personal attacks on Global Voices' Caucasus editor and one of Armenia's most prominent bloggers, Unzipped, who earlier commented on the nationalist action in Gyumri:

This was a campaign of bullying, intimidation, hate speech, direct death threats, psychological and physical abuse towards someone who you do not agree with. This was not a ‘civil’ protest. More like a mob rule.

[…]

As one of my Facebook friends commented on his page: is this how civilised and cultured people need to react to showing of film? “Do these protesters realize how insecure and weak they appear? So shameful…”

[…]

Once again, freedom of speech lost in Armenia. Once again, state structures in Armenia failed to protect constitutional rights and freedom of their citizens. There were no winners.

However, if the situation in Gyumri was one of concern, what happened next in Vanadzor was on another level entirely. Human Rights Watch issued a statement:

On the morning of April 16, some 200 people – including former military servicemen, students and political party representatives – gathered in the center of Vanadzor and marched toward the HCA's office. According to one of the witnesses, the crowd was led by the Union of Nagorno-Karabakh War Veterans (“Yerkrapah”).

The HCA’s Vanadzor office tried to negotiate with the crowd and allowed several of the protest’s organizers to enter their offices to discuss the group’s demands. However, several of the rally participants also entered the premises and threatened to break the equipment and furniture unless the NGO agreed not to show the films. The crowd outside chanted slogans: “Traitors, Shame, and Turks!”

HCA Vanadzor director Artur Sakunts offered to postpone the film screenings, but the crowd demanded full cancellation and started to throw eggs and rocks at the office. They broke several windows, and one stone hit an HCA employee. Several protest organizers demanded that Sakunts cancel the film festival or potentially face further violence. When protest organizers told Sakunts that they could no longer control the angry crowd, he yielded to the threats and agreed to cancel the film screenings. The crowd dispersed shortly thereafter.

HCA’s Vanadzor office called the police as soon as the crowd gathered outside the office, but police arrived only after the protest dispersed. According to one eyewitness, there were at least four policemen near the office during the protest, but they did not intervene to try to prevent the attacks.

Freedom House also commented on events:

Freedom House urges Armenian authorities to conduct an immediate, independent investigation into a mob attack against the offices of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA), a leading human rights organization, and the failure of police forces to calm the crowd or intervene when the situation began to turn violent. […]

The film festival is a project of the Caucasus Center of Peace Making Initiatives (CCPMI) to foster reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but Armenian nationalist groups and political parties reportedly worked together to organize the protest rally to halt the event. Screening of the films had previously been scheduled at the offices of the Asparez Journalist Club in Gyumri, but was cancelled due to threats of similar attacks. Freedom House calls on authorities to perform their duty by protecting the festival and its organizers from harm and defending all citizens’ freedom of peaceful expression.

Armenia is rated Partly Free in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2012 report, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2011. Nations in Transit 2011 categorizes Armenia as a Semi-consolidated Authoritarian Regime. Ethnic and territorial tensions remain high between the Armenian and Azerbaijani populations. A seven-year war over the semi-autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh region ended with a ceasefire in 1994, but has yet to be fully resolved.

The latest blow to freedom of expression in Armenia follows attempts to silence a young author for his book which contains stories detailing hazing and abuse in the military. Meanwhile, attempts to discredit Vanyan domestically as well as internationally continue online as well as off, with some civil society organizations complicit.

Raising further questions about the sincerity of peace building initiatives in the country, as well as the extent to which freedom of expression will be tolerated in the future, concerns that the authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan are more interested in perpetuating the ‘image of the enemy' in their respective societies continue.

Armenia: The mob rules

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:26:35 +0000

Unzipped again comments on last week's cancelled festival of Azerbaijani films in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri. The blog concludes that the campaign and demonstration against local peace activist Georgi Vanyan illustrated that the ‘mob rules' and “state structures in Armenia failed to protect constitutional rights and freedom of their citizens.“

Azerbaijan: Emin Milli speaks at Amnesty International conference

Pervin Muradli — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:07:28 +0000

Emin Milli, one of the two ‘donkey bloggers' detained in July 2009 and later conditionally released in November 2010, posts the transcript of his speech delivered yesterday at Amnesty International UK's National Conference.

Azerbaijan: Free Bakhtiyar Hajiyev

Pervin Muradli — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:53:11 +0000

NetProphet comments on the case of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a young activist in Azerbaijan who was sentenced to two years in prison on what international human rights groups consider politically motivated charges, and a new campaign to have him freed.

Armenia: Support for Georgi Vanyan

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:07:06 +0000

Following the cancellation last week of a festival of Azerbaijani films in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri amid threats of violence, both the traditional media as well as online commentators have covered the campaign targeting the organizer, peace activist Georgi Vanyan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a bitter conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh and, although the war waged in the early 1990s was put on hold by a 1994 ceasefire agreement, tensions remain high on the front line with scores of conscripts dying in skirmishes each year.

Yet, despite the need to find a lasting peace and to bring the two countries together, the activities of individuals such as Vanyan irk nationalists. Some press reports on last week's incident, for example, quoted two 'security experts,' a term used for those engaged in the online information war with Azerbaijan, attacking Vanyan for his cross-border peace building initiatives.

Ironically, their position, along with other nationalists in Armenia, almost exactly mirrored that of their counterparts in Azerbaijan who welcomed the festival's cancellation and gleefully applauded video of Vanyan being assaulted. Even so, there were also other more alternative voices online.

@KevorkO: What if we put all these petty, small-minded ethno-nationalists in a single cage at the zoo? #caucasus #Armenia #Azerbaijan

@Alisa_Bala: people should understand that #peace is above all things and we must treat peace advocates,the most courageous people

@DiTomtie: Peace activist was beaten in Armenia. Sad proof that our societies are not ready for a change.

Similar comments were also made on Facebook, but there were also posts on a number of blogs and online sites as well. One on the Foreign Policy Association blog, for example, recounted a meeting between Vanyan and the author, an Azerbaijani, in 2009:

From my personal humble experience in conflict resolution I learned that advocating for peace can be a tough job. Mostly, because the majority of people who live in conflict zones and were affected by wars, do not understand the point of reconciliation. All they know is that they lost relatives, possibly were displaced, or had to flee. What they usually want is for justice – what they perceive as one – to be restored. In conflict zones one can rarely meet sincere peace advocates who would stand up to their own people, and tell them the other side of the story.

In South Caucasus Georgi Vanyan is one of the few.

That’s why in South Caucasus Georgi Vanyan is a rockstar.

And, although unlikely to be speaking for many young Azerbaijanis, Be Positive! sent a message from one side of the contact line to the other:

We, Azerbaijani Youth with common sense, think that recent events in Armenia are exhausting. […]

[…]

We reproach the weak and insensitive events against Georgi Vanyan as we, Azerbaijani bloggers, are in need of and faithful to democratic values […]. We are proud to give moral support to Georgi Vanyan.

There were also posts on blogs such as HİPER QARAGÜRUH`un bloqu [az]:

Azərbaycanda olduğu kimi, Ermənistanda da sülh tərəfdarı olan, insanların ölmələrini, it kimi bir-birlərini didməmələrini, minlərlə insanın avtoritar hakimiyyətlərin oyunlarının qurbanı olmamalarını, bu mənasız müharibələrə sərf olunan enerjinin inkişafa, tərəqqiyə sərf olunmasını istəyən, ağlı başında, intellektual, ziyalı insanlar var. Bu insanlardan biri də Cənubi Qafqazda tanınmış erməni hüquq müdafiəçisi, rejissor, yazar, “Qafqaz Sülhməramlı Təşəbbüslər Mərkəzi”nin rəhbəri Georgi Vanyandır.

[…]

Qafqazın bu iki ölkəsi aşağı-yuxarı eyni taleni bölüşən dövlətlərdir. İkisində də eyni vəziyyətdir. Sosial-iqtisadi vəziyyət, ölkədəki korrupsiya, təhsildəki biabırçı durum, siyasi repressiyalar, ifadə azadlığı, ordudakı “dedovşina” və s. Hətta deyərdim ki, Ermənistan bizdən biraz irəlidədir. Çünki, pul Sarkisyan hakimiyyətində bizimkilər qədər çox olmadığına görə, rejim cəmiyyəti bu qədər təzyiq altında saxlaya bilmir. Buna görə də nisbətən irəliləyişlər əldə olunub. Amma ümumilikdə vəziyyət eynidir.

As in Azerbaijan, there are rational, intellectual and intelligent people in Armenia advocating for peace, wanting an end to the death of people, to hatred among them, and to the surrender of thousands of people to the games of authoritarian governments, wishing that the energy spent on pointless wars were directed towards development and progress instead. One of those people is the well known Armenian human rights activist, film director, writer and director of Caucasus Center of Peacemaking Initiatives in the South Caucasus, Georgi Vanyan.

[…]

These two countries of the Caucasus share more or less the same destiny. They are in the same situation: socio-economic situation, corruption, the shameful state of education, political repressions, freedom of expression concerns, hazing in the army etc. I would even say that Armenia is ahead of us a little. The reason is that [Armenian President] Sarkisyan’s regime does not have as much money as ours do and this is why their regime cannot apply as much pressure on society. This explains why they have comparatively some progress. But overall, the situation is the same.

The online portal, Kultura.az, also featured commentary [az]:

Tendensiya budur ki, Ermənistanda türkə, Azərbaycana nifrət etməyəni, Azərbaycanda isə kökündə “erməni” sözü olan istənilən nəsnəyə nifrət etməyəni dışlayırlar. Bu, 2 rejimin bəlkə də yeganə təbliğatdır ki, əhalinin inanmasına nail olublar.

Rejimlər müharibə təbliğatından necə istifadə edir, bunu uzun-uzadı bu yazıda anlatmayacağam. Əsas məsələ budur ki, nifrəti saxlamaqla hakimpreiyyətlərinin ömrünü uzadırlar. Kimsə bu nifrətin əleyhinə çıxsa, hakimiyyət tərəfindən qınanır, gözdən salınır, böhtanlar atılır, bəzən isə cinayət işi açılır və sair təzyiqlərlə üzləşir. Əhali də ona pis baxır, “erməni” və ya “türk” deyib təhqir edir, ona qız vermirlər və ya evdə qalır, onu təhqir etmək caiz sayılır və s..

[…]

Bu iyrənc müharibə təbliğatı, beyinlərə yeridilən nifrət propoqandası bitməyincə nə buralarda bir demokratik ölkə qurulacaq, nə də Qarabağ problemi həll olunacaq.

Bu rejimlər, bu təbliğatlar müvəqqətidir, bizə qalan nifrət yox, sevgidir – Vanyanın humanizm, sülh sevgisi.

The tendency is that those in Armenia who do not hate Turks and Azerbaijan, and those in Azerbaijan who do not hate anything with the word “Armenian” in it, are ostracized. This is probably the only propaganda from the two regimes that their people will believe.

I am not going to explain in this post in details how these regimes make use of war propaganda. The main thing is that by keeping hatred alive these regimes prolong the lives of their rule. Anyone who stands against this hatred is criticized, belittled, defamed by the government, or sometimes criminal cases are opened and pressure is applied. People look down on that person, they humiliate that person by calling them “Armenian” or “Turk”. No one wants their son or daughter to marry that person. Humiliating that person is considered a virtue etc.

[…]

Until this propaganda of a foul war, this brainwashed propaganda of hatred, ends, neither democratic systems will be established in these [countries] nor will the Karabakh problem be resolved.

These regimes, this propaganda, are temporary. What we will end up with is love, Vanyan’s humanity, his love for peace.

Undaunted by the actions against him in Gyumri, Vanyan eventually held his otherwise ill-fated Azerbaijani film festival at a restaurant outside the city limits and plans to hold another next week in Vanadzor, Armenia's third largest city. Moreover, there also appears to be another positive outcome from attempts to obstruct Vanyan's work.

Zardust Alizadeh, an Azerbaijani analyst and a speaker at one of Vanyan's recent cross-border events, was quoted as saying by NewCaucasus that he might now consider staging a festival of Armenian films:

Я считаю, что настоящее искусство – служит добру, гуманизму, сближению народов. И мне пришла в голову идея: а почему бы мне не повторить инициативу Ваняна в Азербайджане?

I think that real art serves the kindness, humanity and reconciliation of people. And an idea came to my mind: why not repeat the initiative of Vanyan in Azerbaijan?

Thanks to Global Voices author Pervin Muradli who translated from Azerbaijani into English for this post.

Armenia: Nationalist Threats Against Local Activist

Onnik Krikorian — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:55:22 +0000

Just weeks after one example of censorship in Armenia comes another, but while Hovhannes Ishkhanyan spoke out against hazing and human rights abuses in the military, this time the target is local activist Georgi Vanyan. One of the few to openly call for peace and regional integration in the conflict-riven South Caucasus, Vanyan has been targeted before.

In 2007, for example, a small group of nationalist bloggers momentarily disrupted an event aimed at overcoming the image of the enemy among pupils at a local school, and in 2010 death threats were made against Vanyan alongside pressure applied on venue owners to prevent the screening of Azerbaijani films in Yerevan, the Armenian capital.

Plans to do the same this week appear to have met a similar fate.

@unzippedblog: After previous unsuccessful attempt, #Azerbaijan films festival planned in #Armenia second town #Gyumri 12 April

@unzippedblog: Let's hope we will not witness similar hysteria as was last time with attempt re #Azerbaijan films festival in #Armenia

A Facebook event ostensibly organized to protest the festival instead became a space through which to personally attack and vilify the activist as well as to promote hate-speech. Despite reporting the page to Facebook, however, it was not removed. Death threats have also reportedly been made against Vanyan by telephone.

@unzippedblog: …and he we are. Already anti- #Azerbaijan film festival FB page set up full of hatred & with open calls at life of organiser #Armenia

Yet, even with much of the local media also involved in the campaign against Vanyan, a demonstration held yesterday to prevent the festival from going ahead failed to attract a significant crowd. The media also reported that 50 people blockaded the premises of the Asparez Journalists Club where the event was due to be held.

However, as Unzipped implies, it wasn't the size that mattered.

@unzippedblog: At last, disgraced mayor of #Gyumri found his place, heading nationalist parade against #Azerbaijan film festival #bizarre #Armenia

@unzippedblog: Organiser of #Azerbaijan film fest. in #Armenia says “terror campaign” against him,blames police inaction,cancels fest. as safety at stake

A video report from Radio Free Europe's Yerevan Bureau shows the Mayor leading the demonstration against Vanyan. The signs taped on protestor's backs read “No Azerbaijani Film Festival.”

In an attempt to defuse tensions, Vanyan met with critics although video posted on YouTube seems to indicate there was little opportunity for discussion:

The nationalist E-media site also uploaded a video of Vanyan being assaulted outside the festival venue, gleefully posting a screen grab on its Facebook page:

Publicly announcing the latest cancellation on his own page, Vanyan also specifically accused Gyumri's controversial and notorious Mayor of organizing the campaign against him.

[…]

Основываясь на видеоматериалах и репортажах армянских СМИ, освещающих митинг протеста против проведения Фестиваля азербайджанских фильмов, и принимая во внимание свидетельства очевидцев, заявляем, что за создание искусственной напряженности вокруг фестиваля, за возможные провокации и проявления насилия в отношении организаторов и участников фестиваля, намеченного на 12 апреля, ответственность несет лично мэр города Гюмри Вардан Гукасян, под руководством которого осуществляется кампания пропаганды террора.

[…]

After examining the video materials and footage by the Armenian media which covered the meeting protesting against the Azerbaijani film festival, and considering eye witness accounts, we state that Vardan Ghukasyan, the mayor of Gyumri, under whose auspices propaganda of terror is implemented, is personally responsible for the artificially created tension around the festival as well as possible provocations and violence against the organizers and participants of the festival scheduled for April 12.

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a bitter stalemate over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh and tensions remain high since a ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994. Over 25,000 people died and a million forced to flee their homes in the fighting that took place and the International Crisis Group early last year warned of the danger of a new ‘accidental war.'

Some Facebook users, including both Armenians and Azerbaijanis, considered the latest cancellation in that context.

International mediators as well as organizations involved in cross-border peacebuilding initiatives believe Track II diplomacy and cultural projects are sorely needed to bring the two sides closer together, but as this week demonstrated, as has even food in the past, the task is an uphill struggle.

In 2010, Unzipped commented on Vanyan's initiative in a post the blogger shared again recently:

I strongly believe that art, and culture, do not recognise borders. Even if countries are at the state of war. Art, and films, are the best way for ordinary people to get to know each other better, to break the ice, even or especially in case of closed borders. There is also internet, of course, and meetings outside the national borders.

I have no problem if there are people who protest the idea or the fact of the festival. It’s their right. But do it in a (at least remotely) civilised way, without engaging the lowest possible denominator of nationalist/racist crap, personal attacks and threats to individuals. There is a fine line when freedom of speech gets transformed into something that should be considered within the frames of legal/criminal code. Many have already crossed that line.

Despite the threats and censorship in Gyumri, however, Vanyan later reported on Facebook [ru] that the films were eventually screened from DVD in a restaurant outside the city limits. He also plans to show the films in Armenia's third largest city of Vanadzor on 17 April.

Georgi Vanyan at one of his cross-border peace building events © Onnik Krikorian 2011

Azerbaijan: Anti-virus software and machine translation

Onnik Krikorian — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 06:19:02 +0000

NetProphet comments on the release of Azerbaijan's first domestically produced anti-virus software, named after the country's capital, B.A.K.U. Launched at an expensive hotel, the event was not without its glitches, however, and most notably with invitations plagued by grammatical errors from what appeared to be machine translation. Amused, social network users reportedly shared them online.

Azerbaijan: Amnesty International Running Scared Eurovision action

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:27:18 +0000

Ahead of next month's Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan, Amnesty International has posted a web feature using the spotlight on the international song contest to demand greater human rights protection and freedom of expression in the oil-rich former Soviet republic. In particular, the international human rights group is using the hashtag #freeaznow on Twitter and also calling on supporters to post messages on the Eurovision Song Contest and Azerbaijani President's Facebook page. There is also a Facebook page for the action itself.

Video Highlights: Culture, Human Rights, Online Activism and Crowdfunding

Juliana Rincón Parra — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:09:24 +0000

This series of highlights aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel.

The Earth, image by Esparta Palma CCBy on Flickr

Culture

India: The Last Handwritten Newspaper in the World

The earliest forms of newspaper were handwritten and now ‘The Musalman‘ probably is the last handwritten newspaper in the world. This Urdu language newspaper was established in 1927 by Chenab Syed Asmadullah Sahi and has been published daily in the Chennai city of India ever since.

Azerbaijan: Novruz Bayram

Alongside Iran and elsewhere, Azerbaijan once again celebrated Novruz, the Zoroastrian or Persian New Year. Usually celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, Novruz marks the first day of Spring, and is one of the most important dates in the Azerbaijani calendar.

This next promotional video prepared for Eurovision shows how the holiday is celebrated in Azerbaijan.

Human rights and videos

Ethiopia: Child Abuse Caught on Mobile Phone Camera

Ethiopian Facebook users have reacted to a mobile phone recorded YouTube video which shows a little girl constantly being abused by her mother. Shortly after the upload of the video, netizens on Facebook organized an online campaign for justice by starting a Facebook group called “Ethiopians Against Child Abuse”:

Warning: the video shows situations of child abuse.

This month also saw other reactions in Ethiopia regarding human rights abuses, in the next case, an Ethiopian domestic worker was beaten by her employers in front of the Ethiopian Embassy in Lebanon, and it was captured on video. Sadly, she committed suicide shortly after.

Ethiopia: Outrage Over Abuse of Ethiopian Domestic Worker in Lebanon

Ethiopia Lebanon: Online Outrage Over Death of Domestic Worker Turns into Activism

The graphic nature of the video together with the tragic end of the plot left Ethiopians netizens outraged. Ethiopians have been using Facebook and online petition sites to mourn her death and campaign for justice for domestic workers in the Middle East.

Online activism

Kony 2012 Special Coverage Page

With the Kony 2012 campaign, discussions increased online on the topics of online activism, its efficiency and how media portrays the conflicts and situations lived in different African countries. A Special Coverage page was created to follow the reactions on the polemic video with Ugandans weighing in on the topic:

Uganda: Kony 2012 Video Response from Ugandan Prime Minister

On the YouTube comments for the previous video, Ugacentricity gives credit to the intentions behind the Invisible Children's video, but defends the need for an accurate portrayal:

No doubt, Jason's intentions MAY have been good, but he threw truth and fact out in favour of drama and innuendo. True, he may not have got the 100 million+ viewers, but the end doesn't always justify the means. As a Ugandan who was affected by Kony, I'd rather have had 100 people listening to the truth in my story than 100 million believing the untruths in it.

A series of video responses made by people inspired by the original Kony 2012 video can be found in the post Uganda: Yes We Kony!.

Other examples of online activism:

Online activism continues in the following examples of stories posted during the month of March 2012:

In Puerto Rico, an organization is seeking to raise awareness on the dangers and risks of planning unnecessary C-sections on women expecting babies through a music video.

In Russia, sex and videos were used as a means for political support by Putin supporters and detractors during the Election season, and this article walks us through some different examples.

In Latin America, women who had breast surgery with faulty implants are taking to the web to get their stories out and gather support. Through blogs, online forums, Facebook groups and online videos [es], women are talking about the high incidence of cosmetic breast enhancements, on financial responsibility for the removal of faulty implants and on the legal aspects of dealing with medical procedures that go wrong.

Crowdsourcing

Nicaragua: Film on the Consequences of a Leaked Sex Video Seeks Crowdfunding

An award-winning team of producers and actors is coming together in rural Nicaragua to make a movie based on actual events exploring the consequences of a couple of young people in love who make an intimate video of themselves which then becomes public by mistake, and how they deal with the backlash of their actions. They are looking for extra funding to cover costs on location in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, and all the money raised will be spent locally.

Azerbaijan: Novruz comes to an end

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:26:44 +0000

Novruz, the Persian New Year which is also celebrated in Azerbaijan, has come to an end and, using the example of the oil-rich country, Eastbook says that during the holiday it can often be difficult to conduct business or arrange meetings. Nevertheless, it notes that Azerbaijan's Embassy in Georgia was an exception.

Georgia: Anti-discriminatory legislation ahead of Armenia, Azerbaijan

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:20:36 +0000

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the passage of legislation in Georgia outlawing discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, age, and political as well as religious views. The blog notes that the inclusion of sexual orientation makes Georgia “clearly the most advanced country in the South Caucasus in terms of legislative provisions on LGBT issues.”

Azerbaijan: 17 March youth protest in images

Pervin Muradli — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:05:58 +0000

Narmin Noqte posts video footage and photos from the 17 March youth protest in Baku, Azerbaijan. The video is subtitled in English and available on Vimeo.

Azerbaijan: Novruz Bayram

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:24:33 +0000

As was the case in previous years (see here, here, and here), foreigners blogging from Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijanis themselves, naturally introduced the holiday to readers outside of the country. The Girls Guide to Guns and Butter, for example, was one of many making posts in English:

I come from Azerbaijan, an ancient nation on the fiery coasts of the Caspian Sea. The sea coast is literally fiery, boasting some serious crude oil and gas reserves, with the flames naturally bursting from under the ground in certain places. It is for this reason that Azerbaijan was once a center of Zoroastrianism, and the Zoroastrian legacy lives with us to this day through a spring holiday Novruz, or “New Year” in Persian, celebrated on the spring equinox.

While the nation is what you would describe as secular Muslim, this pre-Muslim holiday is still the highest holiday in the calendar, and is the equivalent of the Christian Easter in celebrating Nature’s rebirth.

Azerbaijanis celebrate it by decorating their homes with the platters of sprouted wheat seed (basically pet grass) and a luscious feast featuring some of the nations’ favorite staples – meaty saffron pilafs and delicious middle-Eastern-style sweets, making it a bit of a Mardi Gras as well.

Meanwhile, Aran Erdebilli details how Novruz is celebrated in Azerbaijan:

Novruz was unofficially celebrated in the Soviet period, for the reason that the government prohibited the celebrations and pusuited people. Despite all that each Azerbaijan family followed the hundred years old traditions and celebrated Novruz.

Nature starts to wake in Novruz and Azerbaijan people demonstratively celebrate it month ago. On Tuesdays we celebrate Su Charshabnasi(water-Tuesday), Odlu Charshanba(fire- Tuesday),Torpag Charshanba (land-Tuesday) and Akhir Charshanba(final or wind- Tuesday).according to the folk belief water in the first Tuesday purifies and stirs, fire in the second Tuesday, land on the third Tuesday and wind in the fourth Tuesday awaken the nature, the trees begin to blossom; all this symbolize spring’s coming.

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Celebrating Novruz people in the villages determine the peculiarity of the coming year: weather it will be either arid or rainy and determine the degree of productivity. According to the tradition the first day of Novruz symbolizes spring, second day after it is summer, the third day is autumn and the fourth is winter. If the first day is windless and arid, so the spring is going to be favourable for agricultural works, and if it is rainy and windy so the spring is expected to be the same. On the rest of the days they determined summer, autumn and winter.

Novruz is a joyful and lovely holiday.

Sensible and Sensitive, another Azerbaijani blog, also marked the event, explaining the preparation of semeni (wheat sprouts) and xoncha, a tray full of Novruz goodies:

Preparations; a thorough cleaning of house, growing ‘Semeni’(one of the symbols), preparing nuts to cook pakhlava, shekerbura (other symbols) start early, almost a month prior spring begins (20th March). Till that date by each Tuesday of upcoming month devoted to one of the elements –earth, water, wind and fire, you feel closer to upcoming spring. In my hometown-Ganja we celebrate on the 21st of March, however in Baku they do on the evening of 20th. Well, I can say we celebrate two days since we are going back and forth between Ganja and Baku for years.

Cleaning house might not be that much fun, but gathering around the table with cousins to clean nuts one by one was a lot of fun. I remember Mother growing Semeni in different plates for us and relatives. Seeing finally Semeni grows and decorating it with red ribbon was one of those small things that make you really happy on the holiday eve. Yes, decoration of Khoncha (one of the main symbols of the holiday) has already started. You put Khoncha in the middle of a tray, and go on with other elements of it.

And with this year's Eurovision Song Contest due to be staged in Azerbaijan, an introduction to the holiday was also featured in an official video from the competition's organizers.

As already mentioned, interest in Novruz isn't just confined to locals. Foreigners living in Azerbaijan also take a keen interest. Life on the Edge, a Peace Corps blog, details how the holiday was celebrated in the regions of the country:

So Novruz is this holiday in Azerbaijan that is essentially treated as their new year, because it is the beginning of spring, and so, it feels like a new year! The holiday has Zoroastrian roots, though some people here will tell you it's a Muslim holiday, so it's celebrated in Iran too…though I'm not sure how many other countries. I say, the holiday is a bizarre mix between Halloween and Easter.

The buildup starts four weeks before (a little reminiscent of lent), and each Tuesday is a celebration of the four elements, Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. Depending on how traditional the family is, there may or may not be feasts and such on each of these nights.

March 19th/20th is when all the fun begins. On the 19th, after a great city celebration and picnic in the park, Mom and I were sitting innocently on the couch in our pj's watching 30 Rock when I hear a knock on the door and, “papoglari doldurun!” Translated to: Fill the hats. This little tradition is like ding/dong/ditch meets Trick or Treat. Kids run around the neighborhood with hats, throw them at the door, shout, “fill the hats” and then run and hide. The homeowner fills the hats with candy and sweets (yup, they put the buttery syrupy sweets right into the hat), and then closes the door. The kids run back to retrieve their sticky hats and goodies, and then move on to the next house. We were bombed by Jake and some of my students, and then later some rather greedy neighbors…

The 20th was the day I was most looking forward to. The 20th is technically Novruz Eve. […]

Of course, Novruz is not just celebrated in Azerbaijan, but also among ethnic Azeris living in the U.S., Europe, and neighboring Georgia. Kurds and some ethnic Azeris from Iran also celebrate the holiday alongside other Iranians visiting Armenia especially for the holiday each year.